I saw the midnight showing. I will be in a minority because it was a huge disappointment. I am a big fan of the first 2 and was looking forward to going. The plot, sub-plots, special effects, acting, and general film making were very sub-par. I didn't think it would be possible to mess this up, but I think they did.

I haven't seen this yet, but when I saw (in trailer, so I don't think it's a spoiler?) that the kids were wearing their "normal" clothes in some spots (e.g. Hermione wearing pink sweater and jeans or something), I thought it might take away some of the "magic" of it. Do you think it mattered, maybe by being too realistic instead of magical?

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban might not have got quite the glowing reviews of its predecessors, but it's certainly winning them over at the box office.
Screen Daily reports that the film took over £5m in one day when it was released on Monday May 31.

This means that it has broken two UK box office records. With takings of £5.03m, it's the first film ever to break the £5m mark in the UK, and the biggest single day receipts.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets also performed well at the box office, with opening day takings of £2.1m and £2.18m respectively. The third film's enormous success can in part be attributed to its opening on a bank holiday Monday, and at the start of school half-term holidays.

Studio bosses will take heart at the figures, and hope that Azkaban repeats the feat in the much bigger North American market. It opens in the US tomorrow

I haven't seen this yet, but when I saw (in trailer, so I don't think it's a spoiler?) that the kids were wearing their "normal" clothes in some spots (e.g. Hermione wearing pink sweater and jeans or something), I thought it might take away some of the "magic" of it. Do you think it mattered, maybe by being too realistic instead of magical?

I think they're in "normal" clothing most of the movie and that didn't have any impact for me overall. I thought the plot and what I considered a lack of an ending were more important. The lack of respect for breaking rules without consequences sends a bad message to our youth too. My daughter even commented "See, they break rules" after the movie.

We're going next weekend. Can't wait (especially since I have a huge crush on Alan Rickman ). I hate opening night crowds. I love the casting of Oldman as Sirius and David Thewlis as Remus Lupin as well. I am so stoked! I've read the book twice in the past two weeks to brush up.

An online friend of mine from the UK went to see the opening across the pond and she liked it pretty well.

The lack of respect for breaking rules without consequences sends a bad message to our youth too. My daughter even commented "See, they break rules" after the movie.

Well, but the rule-breaking is part of the book. All the books, actually.

I'll probably see this in the next few weeks; I'm looking forward to it but don't want to fight the crowds.
And I actually don't have a problem with Gary Oldman as Sirius. Oldman has always struck me as one of those actors whose attractiveness varies depending on the character he's playing.

ok i saw this movie today and i LOVED it...i don't think they screwed it up...i liked it better than the first 2

yes the ending was rushed and they did leave a lot out about the purpose of the maradaur's map and the peter pettigrew stuff, but i read in an article they want to wait to explain that stuff in the next movie...want to keep suspense or something lol...but considering a lot of people read the books, i think they should have just put that stuff in and made the movie 2 and a half hours

i loved the scenes with the hippograff and with harry and his roommates just goofing off before bedtime...boy does the longbottom boy look different! i totally didn't recoginze him at first...i was like oh its neville, he got so tall and skinny!!! ron/malfoy look so much older too

i don't think they will have an entire new cast for book 5, i just read in that same article daniel radcliffe is interested to keep on playing harry...i really don't think they should recast the main characters

i mean yeah they are getting older, but that doesn't meant they still cant play the roles...a lot of actor/actresses are not even close to the age they are supposed to be in the roles they play anyway...in buffy, the willow character is like 30 and they when she was like 23 she was playing a 16 year old. Just like a lot of the actors who were in their 30's playing teens

what they need to do is get a director and keep them lol...alfonso turned down the next movie because he is "spent" lol

My opinion on the movie, out of the three, this was the worst. "supposevely, the scariest out of the three" :rolleyes whatever! Overall I found this movie a bore, I was really looking forward to it, also from the books, they left out a lot. My rating 2/5

I saw it yesterday and have mixed feelings about it. Visually it was stunning, I loved the whole gothic feel he gave to Hogwarts, and the height and feel of space, but the director seemed more enamored of the enchantment of the world than he did on charactor and plot development. The scene with the dementor and train was truly bone chilling, one of the scariest movie moments I've ever experienced, but alot of the movie seemed ripped off from Sleepy Hollow and Batman, the Jack - in - the - Box ( the 1st Batman ) the Forest looked like Tim Burton's forest in Sleepy Hollow etc, and I thought Harry was about to yell I'm the king of the world when riding Buckbeak. I have to eat my words, though, on Emma Thompson as Sybil, she was hilarious, and had my favorite line in the movie re: to Hermione and her old maids soul clinging to books. I also really liked David Thewlis as Lupin, he gave such sensitivity and depth to the part, more so than in the book, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Dawn French as the Fat Lady. But in the end, way too much time with Bogarts and Busses and too little time on Peter Pettigrew, who is so important to the series and the 3 leads. I liked it, but I was expecting more, but then again, I think every fan of these books has a visual image in their head of this world, so it's a tough movie to make.